Knott's Scary Farm

[ORIGINAL POST]

[	mood	|	okay	]
[	music	|	Ace Combat 5 - The Unsung War	]

I'm a little late with this, I know...

Friday was the day I went to Knott's Scary Farm with the usual suspects. That day I only had a light lunch at noon and some ice cream at 3:30. I wasn't sure when I would be picked up; maybe I actuallywould enter the hallowed halls of Winnie's house, and I didn't want to be rude by being the only one not eating anything if we actually did have a snack or dinner before going, so I decided I would save some room. Boy, did I soon regret that...

We met at school and left at about 5:45. It took us a long time to find the place, a long time to find parking, and a long time to meet up with the rest of the group. We were probably finally ready at 8:00. I was getting a little hungry.

I don't know who said that the place wasn't scary, but it was pretty scary. Not just for the atmosphere, but for the random people in masks who would suddenly scream at you. Mask-wearing chainsaw-wielding maniacs I can handle; this I can't. Honestly, I get startled whenever someone knocks on my door! The fact that they couldn't legally grab people didn't help me, either!

I was getting pretty hungry after two mazes so it was either go on a ride or do something else. I usually go with the majority, and in this case it meant skipping dinner and going on a ride. Now, had I known the wait would be 90 minutes and the ride would be less than a minute, I probably would have chosen dinner. The ride (Supreme Scream) was actually scary; so scary, in fact, that I'm going to have to come up with an easier way of killing myself. We had to take off our shoes and remove everything from our pockets and we got up really... really high. I thought I could handle it, but it wasREALLY REALLY HIGH. And when we were falling (REALLY REALLY FAST), I was off the seat, my heart beating almost exponentially faster each half-second. It was a great view, though, second only to seeing Pearl in the blue light from the $3-a-bottle Pepsi vending machine. Man, I wish I snuck a picture when everyone else was looking at the map... I bet I could have said "I was just taking a picture of these outrageous prices", too... (hope no one's reading this part...)

At this point we all got back together and... no, we didn't eat (except for a few small pieces of Pearl's bizarrely cute Japanese chocolate candy)... we went on a log ride. At this point I was beyond hungry (my stomach didn't feel empty because it forgot that food was supposed to go there), but I probably would have fainted in half an hour so I caved and bought a $3 Sierra Mist and some more candy. That came out to an even $5 so I didn't feel too bad about the price.

The train ride was nice, if not a little cramped. It was really unbelievable how much I needed to sit down; it wasn't my feet that was killing me, it was my back! I didn't mind the occasional scare because I was luckily positioned so that I could see it coming, and if it did come my way it would only get Sammi... hehe...

The shows were pretty impressive. I saw a little bit of The Hanging which was a hilarious lampooning of some of the other theme parks. Ed Alzonzo's Howl-o-ween House Party was pretty good too, but a little lewd. The Haunted Hypnotist was ok... the crowd was great, but I've never been a huge fan of hypnotism. I think the idea of being powerless under someone else's control is a scarier than anything. It's only funny in sitcoms. Oh well... I guess I had to be there from the beginning.

I was the last to get dropped off at around 4:00 am. I found it amazing that Sam woke up at 5:00 am the day before. I woke up at about 10:00 feeling just fine.

The next time I go to an amusement park I'll be sure to actually eat something, and I'll save my camera batteries to watch dramas when I'm waiting in line instead of in the car.


Things to do:

Monday: japn 300a homework, register

Tuesday: japn 410 test, japn 315 homework

Wednesday: japn 300a speech outline

Thursday: japn 315 test

Ahh what the hell...

[ORIGINAL POST]

[

mood

|

annoyed

]

I was watching some videos when the doorbell rang. It was about 9:30 so I wondered who the hell it could be. I peeked through the window and it was a fucking police officer! Now of course, more than a few things came to my mind.

1) Why the fuck is there a fucking police officer at the fucking front door?

2) What the fuck was the matter?

3) Is this shit for real? I've seen shows on TV about people impersonating police officers to get inside a house where they end up butchering everyone. And it's fucking nighttime already.

4) If I close my eyes will she go away?

Usually my dad watches TV until about 11:00... except for today when he decided to sleep early for some fucking reason, so I didn't know what the fuck I should do. At least until she (not so politely) told me to open the door and (not so politely) told me she needed to use the phone. And of course today I wasn't able to find the cordless phone quickly because my parents were moving everything around AGAIN to finish up the hardwood flooring installation. All the while my dad was putting some damn clothes on. Fucking... fuck...

FUUUUCK........

Apparently they got a call from our house so they came by to investigate. No one was using the damn phone, much less calling 911. Oh, but we got some warning anyway. Fuck.

So now we have some sort of fucking record with the police, we don't know how the fuck they could have gotten a call from our house, we don't fucking know if someone really WAS fucking with our phoneline, and if it happens again we're going to have to fucking pay for them coming over.

Fuck.

紀伊國屋

[ORIGINAL POST]

[	mood	|	peaceful	]
[	music	|	世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ　（サンボマスター）	]

Well, yesterday was interesting.

I went to Kinokuniya (...all by myself...) in search of another origami book and at least one other book. That's right, origami （折り紙）.


On Monday, Sam went to Kinokuniya to buy a new electronic dictionary and I tagged along, wondering if I could / should get a music CD. I was about to leave without getting anything when I sawThe Buck Book: All Sorts of Things to do with a Dollar - Besides Spend It. Maybe it was the catchy title (if I was at least a little bit wittier and knowledgeable about a topic I'd name it something like that), or the free $1 bill they give you ("Instant $1 Rebate"... gotta love it), but I remembered that I really needed a new hobby and origami was one of them, so I bought the book. It really is great; the writing is entertaining and the instructions and diagrams are very clear, making use of the marks on the dollar. The only downside to the book is that there are only seven patterns. Also, the word "origami" is nowhere in the book.

So yesterday (Friday), I got another book on origami: Sticky Note Origami: 25 Designs to Make at Your Desk. This book, like the other book, seemed like a very practical book on origami so I grabbed it. I'm unsure if this book is better or worse than the other one; this has 25 designs compared to 7, and while some of them seem very impressive (those molecules and fold-able cubes come to mind), others are just too simple. The first one was in fact an elephant made from a single fold. That didn't stop the diagrams from being several times more complicated than the ones found in The Buck Book, though that may be because sticky notes don't have the visual aids that dollar bills provide. The book did provide info on origami as a whole, so that's a plus.

It took me a long time to choose the second book. I first wanted a book to supplement my Japanese studies, but I didn't want it to be just a glossary of terms. Some were just too expensive and the rest were too elementary. Luckily I wandered into the "Martial Arts" section and found The Book of Five Rings （五輪書） by Miyamoto Musashi （宮本武蔵）. Not only does this match The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but the English translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and a modern translation!

I was feeling pretty good until I got back to the bus station when I decided to buy something to drink. I usually don't drink soda except when wolfing down a burger since that's already unhealthy (thanks in part to the movie Supersize Me), but it was hot, I wasn't in the mood for water or an ice cream bar, and I figured that "if I spent this much money on books, what's another $1.25?" I got my Cherry Coke and it turned out to be warm. Hmm. Then when I opened it, it spilled into the bag with my new books! I was seriously pissed off (to say the least). My new books were possibly ruined and I wasn't able to wash my hands until about 40 minutes later. Maybe it was karma for killing a cricket by throwing a rug over it and walking until I heard a sickening (yet satisfying) crunch?

I got home and I was able to minimize the damage; the soda washed off the covers rather easily, and since the books were closed and the pages were thick, you could only see stains on the very top of the books, and only if you looked carefully.


My thoughts on origami:

Appreciation comes when you realize how much variety there is. Traditionally it's about making objects out of nothing more than a piece of paper without cutting or using other materials. Purists will insist that it must only be from perfectly square pieces of paper. That's just limiting, and I think part of my excitement comes from being able to make things from common items like dollar bills and sticky notes.

Fascination comes from simply admiring and attempting your own. Even after making my "dollar peacock," I'm still amazed it turned out as well as it did. Some of those folds are surprisingly complex, and I can only wonder how many objects can be made out of a plain piece of paper, with or without cutting or gluing. It's not for nothing that origami fascinates math heads, too.

Beauty comes rather easily. There's something for everyone; the "less is more" crowd enjoys simple designs and competing for the least number of folds. Others make startingly detailed models. I'm a little of both.

I think this is definitely right up my alley. It's fun, great to look at, and it's easier to show off with than handstand walking (not strong or balanced enough), juggling (not coordinated enough), or unicycling (don't even know where to begin). Card houses are still fun but they're a pain to clean up, and I'm afraid learning kanji will stop being fun once I start tackling vocabulary.

The amazingly talented can draw manga; the adorably cute can knit. That leaves me with origami. Here's what I've done so far: